|

Hong Kong Set to Approve First Stablecoin Licenses in March — Who’s In?

The Hong Kong monetary regulator (HKMA) is about to approve the primary license for a stablecoin issuer in March, as proven by a report by Reuters.

The growth happens following a interval of regulatory overview and the revealing of one of the crucial complete stablecoin frameworks in the world, which came into force in August last year.

At a Legislative Council assembly on Monday, Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief government Eddie Yue said that the overview course of is sort of completed, including that solely a really small variety of candidates will likely be authorized at first.

Yue added that assessments are specializing in core areas resembling stablecoin use instances, reserve backing, threat administration, and anti-money laundering controls.

Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Era Begins Slowly as Regulators Tighten the Bar

As of early February, no stablecoin issuer has but been authorized beneath Hong Kong’s new regime.

The HKMA has indicated that it’s assessing 36 purposes in the primary spherical, although the broader trade curiosity had greater than 40 potential candidates at one level.

The regulator has to this point been cautious and in July 2025 introduced a public registry to monitor licensed issuers, however the registry is presently empty.

Source: HKMA

The licensing regime applied in August covers all issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins in Hong Kong, in addition to overseas issuers of tokens pegged to the Hong Kong greenback.

The guidelines allow licensed issuers to subject, administer, and redeem stablecoins, so long as they’ve full 1:1 reserve assist of high-quality, liquid belongings beneath belief preparations with authorized custodians.

Issuers should honor redemption requests at par worth inside one enterprise day and are prohibited from paying curiosity to stablecoin holders.

Governance and compliance are additionally given nice focus by the regime.

According to the foundations, issuers needs to be domestically integrated or approved organizations which have sturdy inner controls and have boards which have impartial administrators with particular compliance features.

They should carry out due diligence of consumers, undertake using wallets, and cling to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing necessities.

HKMA has a variety of supervisory authority and might add additional phrases to the license, introduce managers, or cancel the license in case of breach of necessities.

Hong Kong Sandbox Draws Banks, Tech Giants, and Web3 Firms

A lot of high-profile corporations have already turn out to be the most important members by making use of to the regulatory sandbox of the HKMA.

These embrace a three way partnership between Standard Chartered’s Hong Kong arm, Animoca Brands, and telecoms supplier HKT, operating under the name Anchorpoint Financial.

Ant Group’s digital know-how unit has confirmed it is pursuing a license, whereas Bank of China Hong Kong has been reported as an applicant.

HSBC and ICBC additionally signaled their intention to apply final yr, though the HKMA has not confirmed the identities of any candidates and has warned that early approvals shouldn’t be seen as endorsements of particular enterprise fashions.

The stablecoin rollout sits inside a broader regulatory and strategic push by Hong Kong to develop a full digital asset stack.

The metropolis already operates a licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms beneath the Securities and Futures Commission, with 11 exchanges authorized to this point, together with OSL, HashKey, and Bullish.

Government officers have repeatedly framed stablecoins as infrastructure reasonably than speculative merchandise.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong’s approach to crypto regulation is meant to be “accountable and sustainable,” describing digital finance as a strategic progress pillar for the town.

At the identical time, trade teams have cautioned that rising compliance prices might sluggish institutional participation if guidelines turn out to be overly restrictive.

The publish Hong Kong Set to Approve First Stablecoin Licenses in March — Who’s In? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Similar Posts